We use pop ups a lot on our lease. They work well. I like the doghouse style with the round loops. This style willhold more of a load when its snowing. The x brace style cant hold the weight of the snow, And caves in with allthe weight, And it is a pain to push back up into place when its all froze up. If you use this style you need to tiethe top to a tree above the blind so it wont cave in from snow.We have several differant pop ups, I like the $79 one the best. I use a crossbow though, It wouldnt work to wellwith a long bow. Its to short.

I have never hunted out of a blind,(plan to at some time) I do own one. I was in one that a friend was practicing out of. He is a tall man as I at 6 ' plus, but sitting and shooting he felt that he would be more comfortable with a wider blind. His was a 60" wide, that seems to be quite common. He ended up exchanging to a (I believe) 72" wide blind. When I saw what he went through, I got the wider one too. Don't know what the brand is, but if anyone wants to know, I can go out to the barn and check.

I hunted in one for the first time this spring for turkey. It rained every time that I went out, but I stayed warm and dry while my buddy sat in the rain a few hundred yards away. It allowed for much more movement than is allowable sitting in the open. The downside is that your position is static, for the most part, but if the location is well thought out it can work well. I liked it.

My expeirance went like this, I put it out the day I was going to use it every deer in the woods knew what was up...so put it up prior to hunting it....I will tell you this the mature whitetail gave it a 5 minute stare and walked the other way, the non-mature it didn't bother..[/u]

I would think that you would have to "brush it in" really well and way ahead of time. Turkeys are one thing, but mature deer are another. An elevated stand is way better for field of view. (unless it's raining then I'll take a dry blind anytime.)

As mentioned, you should put it up early, brush it in and here is one major lesson I learned last year, I placed it under a large evergreen and had it brushed in a month before season. I saw deer by it the weekend before I planned to hunt it while I was scouting. I thought I was set. Well I was nice and comfy, but mine has shoot through screen windows and I set up so that my shots were to the east and southeast. As the morning sun came up I began to loose visibility though the screen. I had a large doe at 10 yards that I could barely see through the glare that was created by the full early morning sun on the shoot through mest. Finally about 9:30 the sun was high enough I could see again out those windows. Needless to say, That blind became one I could only hunt in the evenings or cloudy, overcast days.

WBowhunt wrote:Well I was nice and comfy, but mine has shoot through screen windows and I set up so that my shots were to the east and southeast. As the morning sun came up I began to loose visibility though the screen. I had a large doe at 10 yards that I could barely see through the glare that was created by the full early morning sun on the shoot through mest. Finally about 9:30 the sun was high enough I could see again out those windows. Needless to say, That blind became one I could only hunt in the evenings or cloudy, overcast days.

I would just add that when the sun is shining through anything or anybody inside is very visible. At least in mine that is the case.

Thomas Jefferson, 1774 July. "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time."

They may work OK if you can set it up before the season and leave it. If you have to pack in and out daily.. forget it. Heavy, the cases are a pain if you need a pack, and the NOISE is unbeliveable. Seemed pretty quiet at home but in the early morning woods it is far too loud.

It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth.

I agree, the best is to be able to leave it. If anything the deer can get used to it being there. When deer travel around in their normal range and see things changed or different, it is the same as you walking into your home or property, when something is new or changed. You notice it right away, just as they do. But after some time goes by they start to accept the change.